May, her nanny and I went to Carter Mountain and got our apple pick on this afternoon. We lucked out because it was threatening rain all day, but the weather gods were in our favor. We picked some Gala apples, but also got stung by a bee. May was not a fan of that part. I can’t wait to go back in the fall when the air is a little cooler.

Summer is winding down. The weather isn’t so intolerably hot. The air isn’t so unbelievably humid. There is just that feeling in the air that fall is around the corner. Granted, there are going to be more blistering hot days, but I can’t help but be a wee bit excited that fall is almost here.

I’ve been working on getting May down to one nap, so our little morning ritual has been to take her to the park to run off some of that morning energy. I find it really interesting that she’s only concerned with sticks, mulch and trash. Who knows if she’ll ever take interest in the actual playground part of the playground?

Yesterday, we had a great family outing. We started with the farmer’s market on the downtown mall and then moseyed over to the lawn. Daniel is already preparing her for her first year. I kindly told him to quit rushing things along.

To cap off our day of fun, we went to Blue Mountain Brewery for dinner. If you’re ever in the Charlottesville area, this restaurant is worth the trip. It has a gorgeous dining patio with spectacular views of the mountains. And, it’s very kid friendly. AND, it has an entire yard with cornhole boards.

Over the last two weeks, we’ve been laying waaaaay low around these parts. It started with May going through the big D (don’t mean Dallas) and being pretty freakin’ debilitated by it. I took her to the doctor a couple of times *(you wouldn’t believe the advice the nurse practitioner gave me) , and surprise! -she got sicker. We added emesis to the mix. Fantastic! Managing both ends of a that sort ofsickness is tough. She. Was. Pitiful. This poor child has never been sicker. Thank goodness I had some Zofran on hand. I feel certain it saved us a trip to the E.R.

Turns out she probably had rotavirus, which brings my frustration full circle since she’s had the vaccine.

We’re through it though. May is eating everything in sight and back to climbing furniture. Can’t keep a good woman down for too long.

Some good stuff:

-Daniel finished the Virginia Bar!

-Belinda (Marcee!) came to see us while she was back in Virginia. As usual, she was a lifesaver while May was sick. You know you’ve got a best friend when you describe the contents of a diaper and actually get a response that isn’t along the lines of, “please never ask me that again.”

As I said, we haven’t done much, but we managed to sneak in a visit LoLo and Nonna’s.

Giving out free gardening advice.

And this afternoon, we went to the playground. May has no interest in the playground itself. She’s just interested in collecting things. Today, it was sticks.

Toddlers cannot be trusted. Yesterday while at the Wright brother’s memorial, I made the mistake of giving May her prized Dora the Explorer sippy cup while sitting in the stroller, fully knowing that she has a notorious track record of drinking from cups and then launching them like rockets once they’ve outlived their usefulness. Well, Dora (#1) is no longer with us. She has gone to the lost sippy cup bin in the sky. May she rest.

Luckily, we have a back up Dora (#2) , but you better believe I’m supervising May’s hydration like a hawk. Just on principle, I’m making sure this cup lasts her until she’s 8.

Here is May taking a break from getting all up in people’s Kool Aid at Jennette’s Pier. Thankfully I was able to keep this Dora from going in the drink. Just barely though. She can throw with the best of them.

*who knew one could write a manifesto about a sippy cup?

More from the pier:

Here are some shots of my little mermaid at the Harbour the other night:

*May had one cheek hanging out of this bathing suit. It reminded me of this.